With all due respect, I can forgive some confusion and frustration from people who are being processed as accused persons through our criminal justice system. I forgive them for wondering if there really is a “presumption of innocence” at all.

Criminal charges can result from false, malicious or even ridiculous allegations which police may act on for reasons unknown. Charges can result from illegal search, unconstitutional arbitrary detention, or any number of other familiar patterns of police conduct and misconduct. However a case may have started, once a charge is laid the system starts to move accused persons steadily toward an outcome that can easily affect them for the rest of their lives. No person should face this without experienced counsel.

There is a presumption of innocence in Canada, guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter also prohibits unreasonable search and arbitrary detention, and guarantees a “right to make full answer and defence” as well as many other basic legal rights concerning “life, liberty and security of the person”. But these fundamental rights, to be meaningful, most often must be positively asserted and proactively exerted through experienced criminal defence counsel.

I started arguing real cases in the old Ontario Court of Justice (Provincial Division) fourteen years ago, in first year law school, and I have never stopped. Now constituted as  a Professional Corporation, I offer experience and expertise that can allow you to get out of the criminal process with your liberty and dignity in tact. Initial consultations are generally free.